Gingrich: I didn’t want to qualify for Missouri ballot

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump shake hands after they met and spoke to the media in New York. (Seth Wenig/AP)

The primary is non-binding; it is followed a month later by caucuses where Missourians pick their convention delegates. But every other major candidate is participating in the primary, which gives the public an idea of where Show Me State voters stand.

“We have never participated in beauty contests,” Gingrich said when asked about his failure to qualify for the ballot. “We didnt participate in Ames [the Iowa straw poll], we didnt participate in P5 [a Florida straw poll].”

A Gingrich campaign spokesman previously argued that the campaign skipped Missouri because of the high filing fee.

But failing to qualify for the ballot was widely seen as a sign of Gingrich’s lack of campaign organization.

Another sign is the papers he filed in New Hampshire. His papers were sloppily written in pen and he fell 13 short of the required 40 delegates.